Yes, it is that time of year again when Children’s Week has finally rolled around. This holiday stirs up a lot of emotions for a lot of people. From adopted children to the PVP haters, this holiday has something in store to kick up the heat for everyone. This post turned out to be a mini-guide to the School of Hard Knocks, while I am not sure how that happened, I still encourage you to check out Wowhead’s full out guide to the holiday as well!

Reflecting back on the Brewfest changes a couple patches ago, you know when they removed Strange Brew from the meta, makes me wonder why exactly they haven’t removed School of Hard Knocks from this meta. I don’t intend to rant or rave about as there is enough of that already, but I still dislike this intently.

This achievement is not for the feint hearted or for those who never intended to PVP. This achievement not only forces you to enter battlegrounds but requires you to be tactical. Unlike the Merrymaker achievement, With a Little Helper from my Friends, you have to perform actual duties and roles in the battleground. For some, myself included, this is a great difficulty because these objectives are things that I usually have trouble with in general, let alone my achievement depending on it.

Return a Fallen Flag in Warsong Gulch

This doesn’t seem difficult in any sense, but even in a normal bg week you have 3-4 defenders around an EFC (enemy flag carrier), all clicking their hearts out to get that flag return. It is possible, to see some altruism in the flag returns when no other enemies are around to share the returns for this achievement, but this opportunity may be far and few in between.

If you are having difficulty with this achievement and are looking to make an offensive move check the map for typical EFC locations.

Typical EFC Locations

While waiting for one flag to drop, flag carriers tend to hide on the roof of their respective bases, but be careful, they usually have defense (either a healer or DPS). Some flag carriers feel they are invincible and run around mid-field in combat, showing off their illustrious battle-harden skills. Mid-field is also a good place for a 360 look on where the flag carrier is if they just picked up. Listen and utilize /bg chat to talk to your teammates about where the EFC is and the party surrounding them.

Assault a Flag in Arathi Basin

This is not too difficult. Capping the farm for the Horde/stables for the Alliance is relatively easy with no competition other than your fellow allies trying to get cap credit. If you see a plain gray flag, it has yet to be assaulted and is free game. If the flag has a gray, enemy logo, it has been assaulted and you must either defend (which doesn’t count for this achievement) or wait to assault it once they have claimed it.

If your PVP skills aren’t what they “should” be, you’re riding solo, or in general want to avoid confrontation, up your view distance to see the enemies at any given base. This will help you decided whether that flag is a viable target or if you should ride out to another base. An important fact to note, when capping a flag, the channel is interruptable and the person who tagged it first will gain the credit. However, just because someone is going for the credit, don’t bail out, they may get interrupted, leaving you with a completed objective!

Capture the Flag in Eye of the Storm

This is also a relatively easy achievement. Eye of the Storm is kind of a mesh up between WSG/AB. You have the concept of capturing the flag from mid-field but you must also assaultthe bases and hold the forts for resource points. However, to cap the base you must just be present, there is no base assaulting flag thing. Fights at mid-field for the flag go 2 ways. There is no one there or EVERYONE is there it seems. By turning your view distance up you can monitor the population to know the appropriate and easiest moment to grab the flag.

Flag at mount in mid-field**

When carrying the flag as a paladin, don’t bubble! You will drop it. Don’t mount. Rogues can sprint, mages can blink, druids can cat (maybe even travel form?), etc. Once you have the flag cross/back-track the bridge and bee-line for the base. All you have to do is run over the flag mount and get the credit. On a side note, Eye of the Storm is my favorite!

Assault a tower in Alterac Valley

Places to Assault

Warning: Your hair may experience a bald spot as you pull it out in frustration.

A small tip, as I am not skilled in much of this battleground (most of my expereince entails simply keeping people alive while following them around), is this: you may want to do this with a companion so that one can take the NPC aggro, while the other assaults the flag for credit. I don’t have much in the way to offer about strategy here other than “Ride out, young fighter! Ride as fast as you can to the Stonehearth Bunker with your companion!” That is in a nutshell how I, alongside my boyfriend, got this objective 4 times.

Once all of these objectives are complete, the achievement will finally be earned and well deserved!

There are five other achievements that you will need to work on for the meta but they are fun and lively! No farming and only one instance required! If this is your first Children’s Week, please note that you will not be getting Veteran Nanny any time soon but it is not part of the meta either!

There are three orphans you have the chance to take care of for the reward of three different mini-pets, an orc/human in Azeroth, Blood Elf/Draeni in Outlands, and Wolvar/Oracle in Northrend! Classic and fun, babysitting Baby Salandria is AMAZING. In an RP glory, she is a baby Tar and that is just awesome.

So go out and enjoy the holiday, drown your PVP sorrows, and have a baby! But remember this holiday is a short one and is over (conveniently) on Mother’s Day!

I’m a paladin as well, tank though with increased movement speed by talents.

Put on crusader aura and make sure you mount asap, start running to the first horde (or alliance if you’re horde) tower, run up and get inside by going right (yea it’s the long tour I know, but you don’t get attacked that much, only one ranged guard if I remember correct and he doesn’t do melee). When entering stick to the wall on the left side, stand to the left of the opening so you won’t get shot at.

Useful stuff! As an Alliance Paladin, I’ve not tended to have any trouble getting these done, and have helped a few guildies with theirs :) The Frostwolf towers are generally what I go for when helping on the AV one, seeing as most people tend to have peeled off the main rush by then, and with Crusader aura as well I tend to be the first to the bottom of the map (with eager folks in the sidecar of my bike, hehe). Fun!